Link type hinge



Feb 18, 1936.

LINK TYPE HINGE Filed Aug. 17, 1955 G. DEMUTH 2,031,52

Patented Feb. 18, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application August17,

3 Claims.

The invention relates to the general class of builders hardware and hasspecial reference to means for pivotally mounting a closure.

The principal object of the invention, generally stated is to provide anovel link type hinge well adapted for use inpivotally mounting thecovers of boxes, chests and the closures'of various articlesoffurniture, there being, however, no particular limitation as to theemployment of the -device as it is well adapted for use in a wide,variety of artsand for numerous purposes. Animportant object of theinvention is to ,provide. ahinge which is of the link type incontradistinction to the pintle or pin type and which -l5lconsequentlyprovides for a certain bodily movevment of the. closure with respect toa receptacle or the like in. addition to simple rotary or pivotalmovement.

Another object is to provide a hinge which embodies or incorporateswithin itself combined A stop andbrace means which, when the cover for.instanceof a chest or the like is opened, will .limit the openingmovement and at the same .time support the cover at an incline so thatit will not accidentally fall into closed position,

Still another object is to provide a hinge possessing the abovementioned characteristics and which also involves the provision ofcoacting guideelements which will insure proper relative movement of thecomponent parts at any and all times and throughout all stages of themovement ,of the closure, great strength and rigidity being therebyobtained.

Another. object is to provide a hinge which upon being applied to anarticle of furniture or .Lthelike is mounted upon the inner faces of the7 ends thereof and will consequently be more stable and far less liableto disorganization than the pintle types of hinges which are simplymounted upon the edges of receptacles, etc.

An additional object is to provide a hinge of this character which willbe simple and inexpensive to manufacture, easy to install or mount,positive in action, eflicient and durable in serv- 45. ice, and ageneralimprovement in the art.

To the attainment of the foregoing and other objects and advantages, theinvention preferably consists in-the details of construction and thearrangement and combination of parts to be hereinafter more fullydescribed and claimed, and

,illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary vertical cross sec- 7 tional view'through achest or the like showing the cover thereof closed and illustrating myhinge 1933, Serial No. 685,605

structure, the view being taken at such a plane as to look toward theinside of the hinge casing.

Figure 2 is a similar View with the cover shown in open position,

Figure 3 .is a vertical cross section taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 1,

Figure 4 is a horizontal section taken on the line 444 of Figure 1, andFigure 5 is a view looking at the outside of the hinge casing with a'portion thereof broken away and in section.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, the numeral l0 designates;as a whole, a portion of an article of furniture, for example, whichmight easily be a chest or the like, it being distinctly understood inadvance that the invention is not limited to employment in connectionwith any one particular type of device as its uses are manifold. Thischest is disclosed as including a rear wall II, end walls l2 and a topor cover I3 which it is desired to mount for swinging movement.

The hinge structure is represented as including an open sided casing orhousing l4 having at one edge an inwardly offset flange l5 adapted to befastened by screws or the like It to an end wall l2 of the chest orother article. For stiffening purposes the bottom edge of the housing isprovided with an inwardly directed flange I! which closes the bottomedge. In addition, it is preferable that the rear edge of the housing beformed with an outwardly directed flange 18 adapted to be fastened byscrews or other fastening elements l9 to the back wall ll of the chest.The remaining edge is open to permit passage of the movable parts of thehinge.

The movable portion of each hinge comprises an angle lever 20 having onearm 2| pivoted at 22 to the upper rear corner of the housing, and havingits other arm 23 carrying a pivot 24 pivotally and slidably engagedwithin a slot 25 formed in a link 26 which is preferably flanged at 2'!for attachment as by screws or other fastening elements 28 to theunderside of the cover or top l3. By saying that the link is flanged, it

may be construed as meaning that it is right angular in cross section orelse that the flanges may be simply in the nature of apertured ears,this being an obvious variation.

The device also includes a combined guide and brace member formed as asecond angle lever 29 which has its angle pivoted at 3!] to the angle ofthe lever 20, and which has the free end of one arm 3| pivoted at 32 tothe rear end of the meme ber 26. The remaining arm 33 of the angle lever29 carries a headed pivot element 34 slidable along and within anupwardly and forwardly inclined or diagonal slot 35 in the housing Hi.The arms 23 and 33 are offset as shown so that the angle levers may fitclosely together for the sake of compactness but without binding orinterference. In order to avoid interference with or catching upon anyarticles contained within the chest or other receptacle to which thedevice is applied, the exposed face of the housing is provided with aplate 36 which covers the slot 35 and headed element 34 and which isshown as secured to the wall of the housing [4 by the pivot element 22which passes through the offset end portion 36 An additional securingelement 31 is provided at the other end and passes through a spacer 31The plate 36 lies close to the supporting plate [4 and has one edgeabutting against the flange l8, as clearly shown.

In the use of the device, it will be seen that when the cover [3 is inits closed position the angle levers 20 and 29 will be arranged asindicated in Figure 1, the pivot element 24 being at the forward end ofthe slot 25 and the pivot element 34 being at the lower end of the slot35. When the cover I3 is grasped and swung open,

it is clear that the pivot element 34 will slide up wardly along theinclined slot 35 until it reaches the upper end thereof, this upper endserving as a stop for preventing further movement. Both angle levers 20and 29 will swing upwardly and they will also pivot relatively about theaxis 30. The link 26 also pivots on the element 32 while at the sametime the pivot member 24 will slide rearwardly along the slot 25 so thatthe parts will assume the position shown in Figure 2. During thismovement it is apparent that the cover l3 has a bodily movement aboveand then rearwardly with respect to the back wall I I of the chest inaddition to the pivotal movement. The parts are so related and the slotsare of such length that when the cover or lid is thus opened it mayincline rearwardly to a slight extent with the ends of the respectiveslots 25 and 35 constituting stops for maintaining this position so thatthe cover will not accidentally fall forward and downwardly into closedposition. The mounting of the pivots 24 and 34 within the slots 25 and35 respectively, taken in conjunction with the interconnected anglelevers will' provide an adequate guide means which will insure properopening and closing movement of the cover or lid. Moreover thesecooperating parts serve as adequate brace means so that the parts willbe relatively stable, this feature rendering the hinge structureparticularly desirable in instances where the cover or lid may be largeand heavy. Another feature of advantage is that the hinge housing issecured to the end of the chest, cabinet or the like and willconsequently be far more rigid than any type of hinge involving simpleleaves connected by a pintle and mounted upon or at the edges of anenclosure and a cover therefor. As a matter of fact it is believed thatevery contingency of service and every requirement for efiicientoperation has been contemplated and provided for so that the deviceshould be capable of admirable performance and efliciently perform allthe functions for which it is intended.

From the foregoing description and a study of the drawing it is believedthat the construction, operation and advantages will be readily apparentto one skilled in the art without further explanation.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of theinvention, it should be understood that the disclosure is merely anexemplification of the principles involved as the right is reserved tomake all such changes in the details of construction as will widen thefield of utility and increase the adaptability of the device providedsuch changes constitute no departure from the spirit of the invention orthe scope of the claims hereunto appended.

Having thus described the invention, I claim:

1. A hinge structure for mounting a cover upon a receptacle, comprisinga single supporting plate having opposite edges formed with angularlyextended flanges and having a third edge formed with a laterallyextended flange whereby the plate and the flanges will define a housing,said first named flanges being apertured for the passage of securingelements whereby the housing may be secured with its open side againstthe end of the receptacle, a member right angular in cross sectionadapted to be secured upon the underside of the cover and formed with anelongated slot, a pair of angle levers arranged with their vertices inoverlapping relation and pivotally connected, one of said angle levershaving one arm pivotally connected within one corner of the housing andhaving its other arm pivotally and slidably connected in said slot, theother angle lever having one arm pivotally connected with the membercarried by the cover, said housing being formed with an inclined slot,and the other arm of the second named angle lever being pivotally andslidably connected in said last named slot, both of said angle leversbeing accommodated and env tirely enclosed within said housing when saidcover is in closed position whereby the levers will be prevented fromcontact with the contents of the receptacle.

2. A hinge structure for mounting a cover upon a receptacle, comprisinga single supporting" plate having opposite edges formed with angularlyextended flanges and having a third edge formed with a laterallyextended flange whereby the plate and the flanges will define a housing,said first named flanges being apertured for the" passage of securingelements whereby the housing may be secured with its open side againstthe end of the receptacle, a member right angular in cross sectionadapted to be secured upon the underside of the cover and formed with anelongated slot, a pair of angle levers arranged with their vertices inoverlapping relation and pivotally connected, one of said angle levershaving one arm pivotally connected within one corner oi.

the housing and having its other arm pivotally and slidably connected insaid slot, the other angle lever having one arm pivotally connected withthe member carried by the cover, said housing being formed with aninclined slot, and the other arm of the second named angle lever beingpivotally and slidably connected in said last named slot, both of saidangle levers being accommodated and entirely enclosed within saidhousing when said cover is in closed position whereby the levers will beprevented from contact with the contents of the receptacle, and anauxiliary plate secured upon the exterior of said housing for coveringthe slot therein.

3. A hinge structure for mounting a cover upon a receptacle, comprisinga single supporting plate having opposite edges formed with angularlyextended flanges and having a third edge formed with a laterallyextended flange whereby the plate and the flanges will define a housing,said first named flanges being apertured for the passage of securingelements whereby the housing may be secured with its open side againstthe end of the receptacle, a member right angular in cross sectionadapted to be secured upon the underside of the cover and formed with anelongated slot, a pair of angle levers arranged with their vertices inoverlapping relation and pivotally connected, one of said angle levershaving one arm pivotally connected within one corner of the housing andhaving its other arm pivotally and slidably connected in said slot, theother angle lever having one arm pivotally connected with the membercarried by the cover, said housing being formed with an inclined slot,.and the other arm of the second named angle lever being pivotally andslidably connected in said last named slot, both of said angle leversbeing accommodated and entirely enclosed within said housing when saidcover is in closed position whereby the levers will be prevented fromcontact with the contents of the receptacle, the pivots within saidslots being engageable with the ends thereof for limiting openingmovement of the cover to an extent but slightly beyond the vertical toenable the recep- 10 GEORGE DEMUTI-I.

